154 THE PRINCIPLES OF 



are so vulgar as to speak of sheep and cattle as "muck 

 machines " ; and to put the expression in more agreeable 

 form, it has always been considered that if cattle leave 

 their dung behind them, that is a sufficient profit. The 

 animals themselves are considered not to be or to be barely 

 profitable, but if they can pay their way, and leave their 

 dung behind, that is considered as a quid pro quo. In other 

 words, if you can get your farmyard dung for nothing, 

 that is a sufficiently satisfactory result from the fattening 

 animals. Years ago Sir John Lawes and Dr. Gilbert pointed 

 out that beef and mutton and pork are all produced at a 

 slight loss, and that the raison d'etre for carrying on the feeding 

 of cattle and sheep lies in the fertilizing matter which they 

 leave behind them. 



I have examined very accurate accounts kept on large 

 estates in South Hungary, where culture is carried on in 

 a much more systematic manner than in England, and there 

 I saw elaborate calculations, showing that farmyard manure 

 was not quite produced for nothing, but nearly so. It was 

 produced at a very small a nominal cost. If however we 

 carry on our agriculture in a right manner, farmyard manure 

 must be looked upon as a bye-product. If, for example, we 

 breed high-class animals worth more than beef and mutton 

 prices, if we enter the arena as successful breeders of sheep 

 or cattle, and sell the animals for a much higher average than 

 ordinary beef and mutton, then the breeding of these cattle 

 becomes a profitable business, and we may look upon farm- 

 yard manure as a found material, a bye-product, and as not 

 costing us anything. The cheapness of farmyard dung, when 

 farming is carried on successfully, is no doubt one of its 

 greatest attractions to the farmer. 



Farmyard dung cannot be applied wrong; it is good for 

 every crop, whereas there is room to make a great many 

 mistakes in the purchase and application of artificial manures. 



